In this nonfiction account pretty accurately described by the book's subtitle, Daniel Asa Rose accompanies his nebbishy but mobbed-up relative on a mission for a Chinese two-fer: to get the organ he desperately needs and — why not, as long as we're here? — a wife, to boot. In this excerpt, the author first hears about his cousin's dubious — and, according to Chinese law, illegal — plan.

"Huwwo?"

"Hello, who's this?"

"Huwwo, Dan?"

"Yes. Who's this, please?"

"This is Larry, Dan."

"Who?"

"Larry. Your cousin."

"Whoa, my long-lost cousin Larry?"

"Yes, Dan, that's a fair description. I deserve that. I take full responsibility for being out of touch."

"My black-sheep cousin Larry?"

"That's also apt, as long as you're simply stating a fact and don't mean it in a negative way. Where did I reach you?"

"Actually, I'm on a chairlift in the Colorado Rockies, Larry, a couple of miles above sea level."

"In the middle of summer? I'm somewhat dubious. Not that I'm calling you a liar, necessarily, but people have been known to alter their whereabouts to avoid speaking to people they aren't necessarily eager to speak to."

"I'm with my mountain bike, Larry — about 50 feet in the air, overlooking miles of ski trails that double as bike trails in the summer."

"There, you see? I'm not dubious anymore. A perfectly cogent explanation. Some family members who will go unnamed — except that it's Cousin Burton — consider me an unreasonable man, but I just object to being lied to, or considered an idiot simply because I dropped out of high school instead of taking the standard family route of going to Harvard or Brown, which you never did."

"Never did what?"

"Considered me an idiot, at least to my face, which is one of the reasons I always looked up to you, Dan, even though you did go to Brown. Are you alone?"

Extreme Reads Reading on the beach is a rite of summer as treasured as slathering on globs of coconut oil and squatting in front of a tanning mirror. Of course, five out of five dermatologists recommend that you read this special collection of book excerpts indoors — but that’s where we decided to draw the line.

Co-dependent? The US and China Action Speaks!, the panel discussion series at Providence art space AS220, continues its fall run with a conversation about the increasingly dependent relationship between the United States and China.

The China syndrome There was always a little something off about Kirk Snyder, the onetime University of Nevada Wolf Pack star and NBA washout.

In your ear On THURSDAY (the 21st), FAR OFF PLACE stay close to home with a free gig at the Knickerbocker Cafe.

Review: Petition This distressing documentary explores a netherworld of individuals who have come to Beijing from all over China hoping that their grievances against their local governments will be heard.

An Emperor's heaven on earth Salem's Peabody Essex Museum has pulled off the curatorial coup of the year with "The Emperor's Private Paradise," which reveals to the public for the first time 90 "treasures from the Forbidden City," the Chinese imperial palace in Beijing.